A Point Of Clarification: The announcement of the final Alert of the year in yesterday's mailing was from Chris Cox, not from me. I refer to my mailings as mailings, not alerts, I put such notices at the beginnings of the mailings and I separate items with three dashes, not a row of asterisks. --- A Correction: Regarding whether the HK USP pistol involved in the unintentional shooting in Tualatin OR could have been single-action, a list member points out: "Variant 9 USPs can be carried hammer cocked with safety on, like a 1911. Single action pull is very light." (I will confess to being more knowledgeable about double-action revolvers than bottom-feeding pistols.) --- From GOA: Gun Owners of America and its supporters took a knife in the back yesterday, as Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) out-smarted his congressional opposition into agreeing on a so-called "compromise" on HR 2640 - a bill which now goes to the President's desk. The bill - known as the Veterans Disarmament Act to its opponents - is being praised by the National Rifle Association and the Brady Campaign. The Brady Bunch crowed "Victory! U.S. Congress Strengthens Brady Background Check System." The NRA stated that last minute changes to the McCarthy bill made a "good bill even better [and that] the end product is a win for American gun owners." But Gun Owners of America has issued public statements decrying this legislation... http://www.gunowners.org/a122007.htm The View From The Left: ...The bill would resuscitate a failed government program that spent millions of dollars annually to allow persons prohibited from buying guns to regain the ability to legally acquire firearms. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would be required to establish a "relief from disability" program to allow persons now prohibited from possessing a firearm because they have "been adjudicated as a mental defective" or "committed to a mental institution" to apply to have their bar on firearms possession removed. As a result of the bill, more than 116,000 individuals would be eligible to apply. States would also be required to establish such "relief" programs to restore the gun privileges of those with mental health disabilities in order to be eligible for potential grant money to upgrade records submitted to the NICS... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-sugarmann/trojan-horse-gun-control_b_77754.html http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200712/CUL20071221c.html A View From Oklahoma: ...It took just three minutes for him to be approved to buy a gun. Although this new legislation will make the process take a little longer, gun stores say it'll be a lot safer for us all. The bill is supposed to prevent anything like the Virginia Tech massacre from ever happening again. Local gun store owner Jon Ax says the National Instant Criminal Background Check System - or NICS Improvement Act of 2007 is something we need. "Anything that would help eliminate people like the Virginia Tech shooter from getting a gun, I'm for it," he says. And it's why legislators wrote the bill... http://www.kswo.com/Global/story.asp?S=7526612 --- New Jersey In For More Infringements: Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy testified Monday before the state Senate Law and Public Safety Committee on several bills aimed at curbing gun violence. Healy spoke in support of three bills: One that would restrict the sale of ammunition to those who are licensed to sell, purchase or carry a firearm, one that would toughen the penalties for carrying a prohibited gun in a public place, and one that would require a lost or stolen gun to be reported within 36 hours of it being discovered missing. http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1198134692103140.xml&coll=3 --- Hang Together Or Hang Separately: Those of us who enjoy firearms for both self-defense and hunting are a little frustrated. What we are frustrated about is the attitude among some firearms enthusiasts that, "As long as the anti-gunners aren't clamoring to take away my (insert gun of choice), I don't care if they ban (insert boogeyman - .50cal, 'assault' weapons, etc)". Well, now the chickens have come home to roost. I have seen an increase in both tone and substance in "banning firearms that can penetrate body armor". We know that that includes most deer rifles...The hunting community needs to wake up. What you call your Granddad's deer rifle, the Violence Policy Center calls an "intermediate sniper rifle" and of course wants to ban them. What is an intermediate sniper rifle, you ask? By their definition, any rifle with an optical sight allowing the user to shoot at distances of 100 meters or greater. Which is pretty much any rifle used to hunt varmints and big game in the United States... http://www.ohioccw.org/content/view/3926/83/ --- Oops, Wrong House: One man is dead, and another seriously wounded after a Milledgeville home invasion Tuesday night...He says two men assaulted Ken Foshee outside his home, shot him in the hand, and pushed him inside, demanding money. Massee says the grandson slipped out of the home, and ran up the street to get Foshee's son. The son shot intruder 27 year-old Alonzo Mosley, he was pronounced dead at the scene..."We feel that no charges will be brought against the son, basically what he was doing was defending the lives of his mother and father, in his home.. so we feel like these are family rights, property rights, and we found nothing inappropriate in his actions." http://www.13wmaz.com/news/local_story.aspx?storyid=46906 --- Strange Story: An Arivaca woman on Wednesday pleaded guilty to manslaughter for killing a man who approached her while carrying an ax...Attorney Richard Loungee says his client had been lying in bed when Bobby Lee Gaitlin returned to the compound from a bar where he had been drinking. Gaitlin was carrying an ax. Loungee says Bartlett grabbed an AK-47 rifle she had found in the desert, possibly left behind by a smuggler, and shot Gaitlin "many, many times." (So much for background checks, "assault weapon" bans, etc.) http://www.azdailysun.com/articles/2007/12/20/news/state/20071220_arizona_news_71.txt --- Rule Five Reminder: A Capitol police officer is out of a job after telling investigators he hired a prostitute who then stole his gun. Joseph Kelly, 56, turned in his badge Monday...Cara Liddick, of Carlisle, was arrested Sunday on theft charges, but those charges were later dropped when the gun was recovered. (Rule Five: Maintain control of your firearm.) http://www.wgal.com/news/14890667/detail.html --- Colt M4 Places Last In Army Test: Ya' know that Colt M4 Carbine vs. Heckler & Koch (HK) HK416 vs. FN MK16 SCAR-Light (SCAR-L) vs. HK XM8 LAR extreme dust conditions reliability test that the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Center (ATEC) at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), Md. was conducting? No? Well, we'll tell ya'. The U.S. Army just got done conducting a test on all four weapons, and the results are in. Before we go through them, we'll cut right to the chase: The Colt M4 Carbine came in dead last, with 882 stoppages over 60,000 rounds between ten (10) guns. Not great. But, more on that in a minute... http://www.defensereview.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1077 --- Tempest In A British Teapot: A nine-year-old boy was granted a shotgun licence by police who claimed he was "responsible enough" to own the weapon. Shocked anti-gun campaigners have branded the decision allowing the boy to fire the deadly weapon as "totally absurd". The boy can legally shoot at targets, as well as game and vermin...The licence was granted by Norfolk Police in August 2006, but has only just come to light after a journalist sought the information under the Freedom of Information Act. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=503624&in_page_id=1770 --- Brits Duped Over Home-Defense Rights: Labour has been accused of making "hollow promises" to prevent home owners being dragged through the courts for using force against burglars. A review of the law was promised by Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, at the party's conference in September. His speech prompted headlines that householders defending themselves would have greater protection from prosecution. But proposals published last night go no further than the existing law, which already allows people to use reasonable force to defend themselves and others... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/20/nburgle120.xml -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .